My own Space
by SilverCerulean
Summary: You know all the old Elemental Masters... right? Wrong. There is one you've never heard of (because he was wrongfully accused of something he never, ever would have done), and his sarcastic, feisty daughter has made up her mind to clear his name... and maybe become a hero in the bargain. This is my first fanfic, so it's quite possible that it might be awful. Otherwise, enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, fellow Ninjago fans! This is my first fanfic, which I'm super excited about. Hope you like, and please review! **

_During the war with the Serpentine…_

The Master of Space pelted through the village, a little girl clinging to his hand. The stars were out, all of them blazing brightly against a velvety black sky. Under different circumstances, he would have stopped and admired them, but too much was at stake to stop now, including his and the girl's life.

She suddenly stumbled, yelping in pain, so he quickly scooped her up in his arms without slowing down. Incredibly, she snuggled up against him and drifted off to sleep, even with all the noise behind them. Noise that was growing increasingly closer… He could even see brief glimpses of human-sized snakes holding glinting weapons when he dared to look behind them.

He stopped outside the village wall, knowing they had only minutes before the snakes caught up with them. He used his power to open a portal to another realm, without knowing where they would end up; he didn't really care, as long as the girl was safe. He struggled to stay conscious as he picked up the sleeping girl again. Opening portals to other realms was _always _exhausting, but he couldn't afford to drop now.

They dived through, a scrap of paper falling out of his pocket before the portal sealed up. The snakes surrounded the area only seconds afterwards.

"_NO! _We had him! He was _right there!" _the snake general screamed in fury, lashing out at the soldiers surrounding him. He was too angry to notice the little scrap of paper lying on the ground in front of him for a few moments. He finally calmed slightly, picked it up, and unfolded it. As he read the scattered phrases, his lips curled in a smirk, showing off his fangs.

"I believe… that we might win this war after all," he said triumphantly.

The snakes followed the instructions on the paper to the Elemental Masters' secret base, resulting in a fierce battle that the Elemental Masters lost. Due to a… _misunderstanding, _the Elemental Masters believed that the Master of Space had betrayed them and escaped using his power. They would have lost the war if they hadn't discovered the flutes' power over the snakes. Consequently, the Elemental Master of Space was viewed as a traitor and eventually disappeared from history, leaving only two people still alive that remember him.

**Sorry the first one was so short. There probably won't be a regular schedule for these, I just post whenever I can.**  
**Next time: Huge time skip of 13 years. We get to see who this mysterious girl is, as well as an awful disaster happening that lands her in a strangely familiar place... Constructive criticism is always welcome. ;) **


	2. Chapter 2

It was early morning, and the 16-year-old girl was doing her daily chores.

She and her adopted dad lived in a small hut at the edge of an oasis on the outskirts of a huge desert, so that meant there was a lot of stupidly hard chores, like hauling up enough water to last the through the day, milking the camel(Yes, they had a camel!), and foraging for food. They had only been there for two months, since they both liked to move houses a lot, but she wasn't really enjoying living in this new place.

She had just finished with the water when her dad appeared at the doorway of the hut. She felt a stab of worry about seeing him like this, since he was in his mid-80s and looked frailer every day. "Tessera, would you come inside? I would like to talk with you," he said.

Tessa grew even more worried, since her dad _never _called her by her whole name, since she hated it, unless it was serious business, usually her subtly insulting the leader of the nearby tribes when he got too bossy (Tessa was the expert at all insults in general), or sneaking off alone in the middle of the night to "explore". But right now, he just sounded sad.

She went into the small room and sat down on her cot. Her dad sat down next to her. After a LONG hesitation… "Tessa, I… need to tell you something," he said awkwardly. "Yeah, you told me that already. Will you manage to tell me what you want to say in the next hour?" she said sarcastically. Her dad sighed. Tessa immediately regretted her sarcasm. It was her natural way of breaking the ice and her dad usually bantered back with something equally biting, but today… he just looked sadder and more lost.

"I'm sorry, Dad," she said quietly. "Go on." He hesitated, then abruptly started to tell her a story she had heard a thousand times, so much that she could almost repeat it word for word; the story of a place called Ninjago, and a war between a group of Elemental Masters with weird powers and a bunch of evil snake people called the Serpentine. When she was little, she had insisted on it being told to her every night and had asked tons of questions. Now that she was older, she had stopped believing it was true. It had just seemed like the kind of nonsense that the tribal people told their kids to scare them into eating their vegetables… but something was different this time. Instead of telling the story like it had all happened to someone else, he was telling it like it had happened to _him. _

When he got to the part where he should have said, "And they defeated the snakes, and lived happily ever after," instead he said "And I took you and escaped into the portal. I never saw my friends again."

Tessa stared at him open-mouthed. "You're joking, right?" she finally managed to say. "Do I look like I'm joking?" he said, with the ghost of a smile. "So… all that stuff really happened." "Yes." "And Ninjago really exists." "Yes."

Tessa shook her head disbelievingly. "I have a ton of questions for _you, _Dad. First one; why didn't you tell me all this before?" He looked at the floor. "I didn't know how. It wasn't safe to go back, and I didn't want you to put yourself in danger." (Tessa was secretly already wanting with all her heart to go explore Ninjago, no matter what dangers it threw at her. It was for _science_.)

"Second question; why are you telling me this now? And are you really an Elemental Master?" "I am getting old, and…" Tessa cut him off. "Don't tell me you're planning on dying anytime soon!" she yelled. He held up his hand to silence her. "…and I wanted you to know the truth. As for the second question…"

He closed his eyes and thrust out his hand, making a small portal appeared. He put his hand into it, and his hand reappeared at the other end of the room, grabbed one of the pouches of water, and brought it back through the tear. He held it out, smiling slightly, to an extremely surprised Tessa. "Ooookay, good answer."

He smiled a real smile before he bent over and started coughing. "Dad. Dad, are you alright?" Tessa asked, hurrying over to him. "I'm alright, it just used to be much easier. I haven't used my power in a long time," he said, after his coughing stopped. "Well, you're not using it again anytime soon," Tessa said firmly, steering him to his cot. He protested at first, but when Tess wouldn't be budged, he gave up and fell asleep.

Tessa started to finish her chores, but soon took a break and thought about what her dad had told her. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice the sandstorm until it was _almost_ too late.

"Dad! Wake up! Sandstorm!" Tessa yelled as she finally spotted the billowing cloud of sand approaching. Her dad stumbled to the door of the hut, rubbing his eyes. Tessa ran towards him, but before she could reach him, the sandstorm hit. Her instincts took over and she dived behind a rock sticking out of the ground, curled up in the fetal position, and covered her head and face with her shirt.

After what seemed like a long time later, when the wind stopped howling and the sand stopped stinging her skin, Tessa slowly and painfully got to her feet.

She checked herself to see if anything was severely injured, but there was nothing except a ton of scratches on any exposed skin. Then she spotted her dad. Lying on the ground just outside the hut. _Oh no. _Tessa forgot the soreness in her limbs and rushed over to him. It looked like he had tried to get to her but had been caught by the sandstorm.

Tessa checked his pulse; it was alarmingly slow. "Dad, don't worry, you're going to be okay. Dad, please don't..." Tessa stopped, being close to tears. She tried to get up and go for help, but her dad grabbed her wrist. "Tess... You have to..." Her dad stopped, breathing heavily.

"Dad," Tessa started. "Don't try to..." Her dad interrupted her. "Go to Ninjago. Protect them," he said quietly and hoarsely. "Dad, how am I supposed to go there? You said yourself it's in another realm!" Tessa said, tears dripping down her face. Her dad took her other wrist with his other hand and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, Tessa felt an energy flowing to her from her dad's hands. The energy flowed through her, infusing her with power, power that made her feel like she could go anywhere and do anything. Her dad, on the other hand, paled and slumped back against the ground. "I love you," he whispered. His heartbeat gradually slowed down, and then stopped.

Tessa's tears dried up. What she was feeling was too awful to be lessened by crying. She didn't know what had just happened and at the moment, she didn't care. All she knew was that it had killed her dad, her only family. Darkness started creeping up on the edges of her vision. Then, she started to run. All she knew was that she had to get away, had to escape this horrible pain inside her. At first, the huge rip in space that was forming went unnoticed. Then she fell, straight into another realm. Her shock and overexertion, as well as the impact, caused her to black out.

**Ooooh, cliffhanger. :)**

**Next time: Tessa finds herself in a place she's never been, but is strangely familiar... to us, at least. **


	3. Chapter 3

Blurry, silent images flashed through the surrounding darkness; people crowding around her, then the inside of an ambulance… Tessa vaguely knew something was wrong but was distracted slightly by the fact that her head felt like it was splitting open.

She struggled to think for a few moments, then gave up and let herself be swamped by the darkness once more.

When Tessa finally woke up, she woke up extremely slowly. Her vision gradually cleared, as well as her mind, remembering all that had happened. She wished the darkness would come back so she could forget, until she realized where she was; in a bed inside a hospital room.

She was hooked up to an IV and a bunch of monitors reading her oxygen and heart rate. The shock of being in a place she had never been, as well as the freaky-looking technology she was hooked up to, made Tessa go a little crazy. She ripped off all the wires and tubes she was connected to, ran to the window, pulled it open, and jumped out onto the roof.

Once out of that creepy room and in the sunlight, Tessa started thinking more clearly. _Firstly, where am I, and how the freaking heck did I get here? _She remembered seeing her dad's body… Then falling, and landing on the ground, _hard_, and blacking out. But why had she been falling?

Tessa finally looked around. What she saw made her jaw drop. She was surrounded by huge skyscrapers, and below her were crisscrossing roads populated by zooming cars. Mountains and a large forest were visible in the distance. In the other realm, Tessa hadn't been exposed to much technology, and the complexity of it here was amazing even to the other occupants of this realm. She felt a little lightheaded, due to the sheer weirdness of it all.

Meanwhile, her doctors were having a chat with the chief of police and a few others.

"Well, I suppose you all know why we're here today," the chief remarked as he sat down.

"Yeah, we're here to discuss the girl that fell out of a hole in the sky two days ago, and who is now an inmate in this hospital," said one of the others, frowning. "Why hasn't she been restrained? We don't know who she is or what she's going to do when she wakes up. What if she's another crazy villain here to destroy us?" asked someone else.

"Because she hasn't done anything wrong. In addition, she's injured and in need of our help," said one of the doctors firmly.

"With the ninja gone, we are in much more danger! Even if she isn't here to destroy us, restraining her won't hurt her and is safer for everyone else. It would just be until the ninja return," the random person said argumentatively.

The doctor was about to reply, when he was interrupted by a loud, persistent beeping on one of the speakers. The doctors exchanged a panicked look, then rushed out of the meeting room.

"Why do I get the feeling the this has something to do with that girl," the chief said tiredly.

**Next Time: Tessa discovers her new abilities by accident, and discovers where she ended up. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry that this is a bit late. Also, the next chapter might take a while in coming due to technological issues. *laughs nervously* For now, enjoy this chapter. **

Tessa was still on the roof outside her window when the doctors came to check on her. Unfortunately, the sound of the doctors yelling at Tessa to get off the roof made her flinch really hard, which is not the best thing to do on a roof. She slipped and tried to get back on her feet, but that just made her fall faster. (To her credit, she didn't scream as loud as the doctors did.)

As Tessa was falling, her brain went to lightning-fast-auto-pilot mode. She stretched out her hands and concentrated with all her brainpower on a place a safe distance from the city; the nearby forest. A rip in space appeared below her, showing the forest floor through it. She dived through seconds before she would have hit the ground.

One other person saw her; he wasn't very surprised, but instead contemplated the spot where she had disappeared before covertly walking away.

Tessa landed, on her feet this time, in a dense forest populated by mainly birds and squirrels. She leaned, panting, against a tree, and just relaxed for a few minutes, breathing in the fresh air, before reality came crashing back into her mind. _Okay, so somehow, I got Dad's powers and accidentally teleported myself to this realm, and I don't know where I am or if the people are friendly, which they probably aren't, and _how_ am I going to survive and learn how to control these crazy abilities?! _

Most people would be a little worried, but Tessa felt a growing sense of purpose. Her dad had given this power to her for a reason, and she would use it, to travel, and to help people. But first, she needed to find out where she was, and learn to use her powers.

She sneaked back into the city and was amazed to discover that this was the actual_ NINJAGO_. She stole some decent clothes, found a somewhat safe place to sleep, and spent the next four days exploring the city (under cover, of course). She also practiced her new power safely hidden in the forest and spent a ton of time hidden in the local library analyzing Ninjago's history because she wanted to find out EVERYTHING about this place.

She was in a corner of the library reading a book about recent events in Ninjago on the fourth day when she came across an account of the ninja and their battles with various villains. Tessa had heard people talking about the ninja, who were apparently currently missing, and was excited to find out more about them. She read the account with a mixture of excitement and confusion; these people had elemental powers just like _her_, but they were also descendants of some of her dad's friends, therefore more time had passed in Ninjago than in the dimension she came from.

Tessa was contemplating this unexpected fact when she heard someone coming up behind her. She turned and saw the librarian. "The library is now clos…" the librarian started to say before trailing off. She took a good look at Tessa, who hurriedly pulled her hood back on, hiding her face, but not before the librarian said, "I recognize you! You're the girl that they're looking for!"

"Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about. Also, who is 'they'?" Tessa tried to ask, but the librarian was already dialing a number on her phone. _Crap. _Tessa ducked behind a bookshelf, concentrated her power, and concentrated on her base on the outskirts of New Ninjago City. A small portal opened. She could barely keep it open long enough for her to jump through. _Yeesh, I really need to practice more, _Tessa thought, exasperated with herself as she nearly fell over after landing.

She headed into her "base", an abandoned building in halfway decent condition. She collapsed on the old mattress that she was using as a bed. _I should probably lay low for a while. Who knows what those people want to do with me, _was Tessa's last thought before falling asleep.

**Next Time: The ninjas have returned from the Never-Realm in a to-be-expected state of exhaustion, only to get figuratively smacked in the face by a brand-new problem needing their assistance. **


End file.
